MUCH better headphones

[johnridley]

I picked up some Koss PortaPro headphones, and brought them to work today. For $33 I don't think you can find better headphones. The big thing is that they're very light, and open. I've been using a pair of $20 Sony closed headphones, which sound OK but I can't wear them for more than an hour or so before they really start to irritate me. I don't even know why; just after a while I want to tear them off my head. I've read in the past that it's important to have air circulation in the ear canals; maybe that's it.

I use earbuds when I must, like when I'm riding (I use only one, closed bud, in the right ear) or when I'm working around the house (one, usually open, in one ear or the other, so I can hear people/phone/etc). But I really can't stand the earbuds for more than about an hour at a time before I have to take them out for a while and let my ears recover.

Anyway, I've been wearing these for about 4 hours today and no problems at all. And they sound great (they're reviewed slightly better than the Sennheiser PX100s).

Comments

[nicegeek.livejournal.com]

How audible are they externally? I've been looking for a new pair to use at work, but I've got to be kind to my neighbors.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well, if I put on some ZZ Top and crank it up to a level that I really wouldn't listen to at work, is probably ill-advised for long-term listening but still isn't painful, it's not hard to hear the beat from 2 feet away with them lying on the desk, but they're not really noticable in the next cube over, over all the computer noise and stuff.

At the level I normally listen at, which is really not very loud (I want to be able to listen all day without irritating my tinnitus), I can't even hear it over the ambient noise with them a foot in front of my head.

They're definitely louder than my Sony closed earphones, but they're also much more efficient; at any given output level, the Koss phones are much louder to the listener than the Sonys. I've had the player cranked up to 100% with the Sonys a few times (when there were bad hallway conversations nearby) but that would be uncomfortably loud with these.